


Day to Day

by Telaryn



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Character Study, Clint Barton is a Good Dad, Commitment, Domestic, F/M, Family Feels, Gen, Loneliness, Love, Marriage, Married Couple, Married Life, Separation Anxiety, Supportive Clint Barton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 21:31:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4682174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telaryn/pseuds/Telaryn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A glimpse at the contradictory life Laura Barton has made for herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day to Day

There are times – times she will _never_ speak of out loud – when Laura Barton really hates her husband. Days when nothing works, when the animals are only marginally better behaved than the kids, when she trips over the wreckage of Clint’s latest ‘great idea’ and can’t help resenting that in so many ways her husband is little more than another kid she’s been saddled with.

Those are the days when Cooper acts out because he misses his father’s guiding hand, when Lila cries because she’s old enough to understand what happens to the kind of people that do what her Daddy does. Laura tries to comfort her by reminding her that _her_ Daddy is a superhero, only to have her efforts cut down by her son’s observation that “Dad isn’t like Captain America or Thor though, is he?”

She survives each obstacle – somehow she survives – only to trudge upstairs and face a bed that is much too big and much too cold to comfort her. Occasionally she will give into the begging and whining and let one or both of her children sleep with her, but it’s important that they never lose sight of the fact that the side of the bed nearest the door belongs to Daddy.

Occasionally she thinks too hard about how much of her time is spent keeping Clint alive for their children, reminding them that their Daddy loves them and is a person worthy of loving in return.

Lila isn’t the only one who cries those nights.

Then there are the times when she gets a call or a text - _On my way._ Times when she stands on the porch, heart pounding so hard as she watches for a sign of him coming up the path, wondering if he’ll be hurt, wondering if he’ll be changed, wondering if he’ll still be hers?

Those are the days she looks into those eyes, those impossibly old, impossibly kind gray-green eyes, and feels how much he understands and how grateful he is for the place she holds open for him in her life. And it is her life – she never appreciates that more than when his arms are around her, and his words of love and home and respect are in her ears. He hugs the kids and moves them onto solid ground, takes on his share of the chores, and apologizes once more for leaving his latest ‘great idea’ half-done.

When she tells him not to worry about it, her heart swells with emotion as she realizes she means it. The fears and frustration fade into the background, as he fills the hole he leaves in her world and validates the choices she has made for herself and her children.

He always treads carefully with her once the children are asleep, never assuming that her body or her heart are automatically his for the claiming. Laura never feels more loved or valued than when he asks without words for permission to show her how much he has missed his place at her side and in her bed.

She never refuses him – it would be like refusing food or oxygen after having gone without for so long. When they’re done, she settles into his embrace and breathes a sigh of relief; the loneliness gnawing at her soul sated at last.

If he notices that she makes herself small in his arms, he never says. If she wills herself fragile, he only holds her more carefully, lets her know without words that she is safe, that her world is whole and he has her back no matter what.

_There are times – more often than not, truth be told – when Laura Barton truly loves her husband, and wouldn’t trade her life for anything…_


End file.
